Brussels, 05/01/2012 (Agence Europe) - France, which holds joint presidency of the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM), has noted that the post of secretary general of the joint institution has been left vacant given that Youssef Amrani (who held the post) has entered his country's government as Moroccan deputy foreign minister. Amrani's resignation from the post is not yet officially signed and sealed and it will no doubt be necessary to wait for the next session of the committee of senior officials, the UfM political body composed of representatives of 43 EU member states, for the vacancy to be officially declared with a call for candidates to fill the empty position. Morocco is naturally expected to be called upon to complete Amrani's tenure and to delegate one of its senior officials to Barcelona. Tunisia has also been mentioned, but a new law is currently being examined in that country to ban any participation in any institution of which Israel is a member. No other country is apparently interested in the post, and especially not Turkey whose ups and downs with Paris and the fear of seeing the UfM become an alternative to EU membership do not encourage it to apply for shouldering responsibility within the UfM.
Speaking on Paris' behalf, the spokesman for the Foreign Ministry warmly congratulated Youssef Amrani on his new appointment and praised the particularly important work that he has already accomplished as UfM secretary general, saying “his commitment and energy have given the impetus that was needed to reactivate the UfM and to develop a large number of projects”. Amrani will have been in the post for hardly six months. His predecessor, Ahmed Massada of Jordan, who resigned in January 2011, had taken up his duties in March 2010. In addition to the question of who should take on the post, this further resignation underlines how difficult it is to set up an exact mandate for the UfM or for its secretary general. The atmosphere of gloom could be further accentuated by the fact that the co-presidency for the southern rim, held since November 2008 by Egypt (with France), will also become vacant given the shortage of applicants wishing to take over. Cairo, according to diplomatic sources, has announced it will be ending its tenure from early this year. (FB/transl.jl)